Battleship Potemkin

To many, Battleship Potemkin remains as powerful today as it was when it saw its initial release in 1915. A great deal of the power the film projects derives from its ability to draw on the emotional content of viewers who hold a dissatisfied feeling towards the government, a perennial feeling that never â€Å"goes out of style. † But does the film’s political statement undermine the credibility of the film as a work and sway it into the realm of propaganda?In a word, no as this is a highly skilled cinematic presentation that does not fall into the common trapping of propaganda cinema. To say the Battleship Potemkin contains a political point of view is an accurate statement; but, to say that the film is a work of propaganda may not entirely be correct. The reason for this is that propaganda generally involves a dishonest attempt to present a point of view that plays to the viewer’s emotions.Yes, Battleship Potemkin does present its anti-tsarist point of view so as to stimulate the viewer’s emotions to align with anti-tsarist sentiment however; life under the tsar was hardly one that was popular with the â€Å"common person. † In fact, the entire Russian revolution would have been impossible if the population held the ruling class in high esteem. So, the film does not so much change a point of view as much as it reflects what had been a common point of view.

Biological Explanations of Addiction Essay

The biological model of addiction’s basic premise is that addiction: is an illness; that it is irreversible; that you are either addicted or not (there are no slightly addicted individuals) and that treatment must be medical.  There are many models of biological addiction mainly because current psychological research suggests that different areas of the brain are involved in different addictions (quashing the idea of an addictive personality per say). In this essay two biochemical theories will be discussed, plus the genetic model. The latter theory should not be seen as distinct from the biochemical theories as biologists would propose that any biochemical abnormalities that may predispose an individual to addiction are probably inherited. Thus studies looking at concordance rates of addictions in families, twins and adopted children would support all three of the models being discussed. One of the most popular theories of addiction is to do with the neurotransmitter Dopamine. Dopamine is involved with our pleasure/reward system. Anything we do of our volition that is pleasurable increases Dopamine. It is the release of dopamine that makes us feel Euphoria/pleasure. Drugs such as Cocaine, Alcohol and Heroin make Dopamine receptors release enormous amounts of Dopamine, so the user may feel intense pleasure. This however, does not explain addiction as many people drink or recreationally use cocaine and don’t become addicts. The main idea of the theory is that individuals biologically susceptible to addiction have more sensitive Mesolimbic/ reward pathways in their brain, e.g. drugs may have a more profound (wow factor) on their Dopamine receptors. Another theory that may work alone or in conjunction with the Reward theory is that individuals with addictions may naturally produce low levels of Serotonin. Serotonin is thought to be a major factor in controlling our behaviour. So most of us can get drunk overeat etc but not repeat the behaviour compulsively. This is because our Serotonin levels are stable. It is thought that individuals with low levels may not be able to exercise control. There is support for this idea, e.g. low levels of serotonin are correlated with compulsive suicide, homicide, Bulimia and ADHD. Another suggestion has been that there is a genetic basis for developing an addiction. Although a specific gene has not been found, there is plenty of research that shows high levels of concordance between families who are addicted to: alcohol (Sarafino), Nicotine (Agrawal and Lynskey, Heroin (Devaux and Krebs) and Fowler (see Erika Cox book). However like all correlational studies this kind of research cannot imply cause. The concordance could be caused by environmental factors or social learning.  Additional support for the biochemical theories comes from MRI and PET scans, animal studies using agonists and antagonists and invasive brain techniques on animals, such as neuro toxins where Dopamine receptors are removed.

Efficient Pricing of Geomarketing Internet Services Essay

Abstract Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. The main source of information are geographic, demographic, and statistic data. These data are usually collected and maintained by several institutions and come in a variety of forms and formats. The final integrators acquire datasets, sort, filter and organize them, and offer in advance defined analyses. In this paper we focus on geomarketing services offered on the Internet where usually no physical good is exchanged. The subject of trade is geomarketing information the user is able to extract from the datasets. The main issue is how to set a Pareto efficient price for geomarketing information. The situation is Pareto efficient when the sum of user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We investigate nonlinear pricing strategies and their efficiency to serve mass markets and attract users with different willingness to pay. Nonlinear pricing is used in a broader sense to include the practice of selling the same information product on various vertical markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. The market research for the GISMO project (Krek et al. 2000) showed that the US market differs substantially from the European. It has characteristics of a commodity market, where providers offer very similar or equal products at similar prices. This is feasible only if the prices for raw datasets, which represent the main barrier to enter the market, are low or zero. Competition among service providers drives prices down and enables them to successfully serve a mass market. The European approach is mostly determined by the high prices of datasets and restrictions on the copyright forced by the National Mapping Agencies. This prevents further production and creation of information products and serves only a narrow group of users with high willingness to pay. We list the most i mportant conditions for Pareto efficient nonlinear pricing of geoinformation services. 1 Introduction Price is a very important element of trade. It can only be discussed in relation to what is offered, how much value the potential user attaches to the product and how much he is willing to pay for it. A geomarketing service in this paper serves as an example for a geoinformation service in general where a Geoinformation product is traded. A Geoinformation product is defined as a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The provider of a geoinformation service has to select the medium of delivery and the price for the service. We concentrate on geomarketing services provided online through the Internet. The service is mostly done automatically, and not by a human. Usually no physical good is exchanged. Gathering information about the product, placing the order, and payment is done over electronic network. In the sections 5 and 6 we analyze different pricing strategies for geographic information and their Pareto efficiency. The s ituation is called to be Pareto efficient when the user’s and service provider’s surplus is maximized. We review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing and explain in which cases they conform to the Pareto efficiency. Setting a price equal to marginal cost is not economically viable since such a price does not cover fixed cost. Some examples of nonlinear pricing, such as quantity discounts, term-volume commitments, and list of price options satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if certain conditions are satisfied. We conclude with the list of the most important conditions for the Pareto efficient pricing of geomarketing service. They can be applied to geoinformation services in general. 2 Geomarketing Services A geomarketing service is a service of providing geomarketing information to the user. Geomarketing information is information which enables the user to take better and faster decisions about marketing and sales activities. This information can be delivered to the user in a different form, format and through different media. Geomarketing information is gathered from internal company’s data, which are combined with external demographic, statistic and geographic data. A geoinformation that satisfies a particular information need in a specific decision making situation is called a Geoinformation product. 2.1 Geomarketing Data Geomarketing data consists of internal company’s data and external data. Internal data (the rate of sale, current customers profiles, etc.) is collected and maintained by the company itself. External data comes in a variety of formats and forms, as a collection of numbers, reports, maps, etc., and is gathered by different institutions. Demographic and statistic data is collected and maintained by Statistical Offices and aggregated to a certain extent. Geographic data is provided in Europe mostly by National Mapping Agencies, in USA by the US Geological Survey (USGS). Because of this broad variety of data, their structure, content and formats, they cannot be easily integrated and are not straightforward usable by a non-technical user. 2.2. Geomarketing Information: a Product The source of geomarketing information is geomarketing data. Specialized companies collect the data from different sources, combine them, sort and filter them. For example, the statistical and demographic data have spatial dimension, which is usually given by the street name and house number. This data has to be geocoded in order to link the attributes (purchasing power, age, educational structure, etc.) with geographic data. The providers identify dimensions of data that are valuable for a certain group of users, package them and offer them as a Geoinformation product. A Geoinformation product is a specific piece of geoinformation which provides an answer to a particular user’s question. The answer to the question can come in many different forms; as a selected dataset, combination of datasets, a report, a map, etc. To make the geomarketing service feasible, some in advance designed steps and analyses are offered to the user. The most common are customer profile, site selection, and market penetration. 3 Internet as a Medium of Delivery The Internet changes the way transactions are done. User and seller can enter an electronic relationship without personal contact. The buyer can place an order any time (from the seat at home, late in the evening) and can take as much time as he wants or needs to take the decision about the purchase. Searching for the right product over e-network, he can get comparable information about similar products from other companies, their characteristics and prices. Cooperation with potential and current users of geoinformation services is important. In the Internet world, the gap between service-consumers and services-providers blurs. â€Å"Consumers become involved in the actual production process, their ideas, knowledge, information become part of the product specification process† (Tapscott 1996). In a geomarketing service, usually no physical good is exchanged. The user gets o the result of nly the analysis, the answer to his question. Even more advanced geomarketing services offer the possibility of uploading the data of the user on the provider’s server and combining these data with the collection of the data on the server. A service offered via Internet involves less administration, paper work, and less human resources, which reduces transaction costs. Direct connection to the computer accounting system can provide systematic and efficient registration of the transactions. Security and protection mechanisms enable the service provider to follow and control transactions. Selecting a proper pricing policy in order to attract widespread use of the service is of great importance. In the next sections, we review marginal cost and nonlinear pricing, and analyze their Pareto efficiency. 4 Pareto Efficiency The situation is Pareto efficient if there is no way to make both the user and the service provider better off. The sum of the user’s and provider’s surplus is maximized. It can be a understood lso as maximizing the difference between economic benefits and costs which appear on the user’s as well as on the provider’s side. The economic benefits are the benefits of using the product on the product has to him with his willingness to pay for the marginal unit of the product. If he expects high benefits, he will be willing to pay a high price for the product. Cost incurred on the provider side is mostly high fixed cost of designing and creating the Geoinformation product and enabling the service, and low marginal cost of providing an incremental unit of the product. The user’s cost is the price he pays for the product, the transaction cost and the cost associated with acquiring the information about the product. 5 Marginal Cost Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Marginal cost pricing is pricing where the price equals the marginal cost. The cost of an economic good is an important determinant of how much the producer will be willing to produce. The concept of â€Å"marginal† or â€Å"extra† cost is crucial for the situation on the market of economic goods. It has an important role in appraising how efficient or inefficient any particular price and production pattern is (Samuelson 1967). This observation is valuable for the standard economic good where the total cost of producing the product depends on the quantity produced. The cost structure a Geoinformation product substantially differs from the cost structure of the standard economic good. The total cost of producing the product is mostly a high fixed cost of collecting the data and designing the product, and is not recoverable if the production is halted (sunk cost). The marginal cost of producing t e second and each additional copy of the product is h very low or zero, mostly the cost of disseminating the product. The share of the marginal cost in the total cost of production is negligible. Marginal cost pricing of a Geoinformation product would according to the marginal cost pricing scheme imply very low or zero price. â€Å"Pricing at marginal cost may or may not be efficient: it depends on how the consumers’ total willingness to pay relates to the total cost of providing the good† (Varian 1999). At the first stage of the production, the datasets have low value to most users and they have low willingness to pay for them. The high cost of producing the datasets cannot be recovered. M arginal cost pricing does not imply efficiency because it does not cover the total costs of producing a Geoinformation product. 6 Nonlinear Pricing and Pareto Efficiency Pricing is nonlinear when it is not strictly proportional to the quantity purchas ed. Different prices are charged to different groups of buyers or the same product. Nonlinear pricing is also used in a f broader sense to include the practice of selling the same product on different markets at prices that are not in proportion to the differences in marginal cost. Good examples are phone rates, frequent flyer programs, and electricity (Wilson 1993). The first notion about charging different users differently for the same product was called price discrimination (Pigou 1920) and distinguished among three different forms of discrimination. 6.1 Price Discrimination Pigou (Pigou 1920) first used the term price discrimination and he described the following forms of nonlinear pricing: †¢ First-degree price discrimination The first-degree price discrimination is sometimes known as perfect price discrimination. The producer sells different units of output at different prices and these prices may differ from buyer to buyer. The buyer pays the maximum price that he is willing to pay, irrespective of the cost of production and supply. Usually it is difficult to determine what is the maximum price someone is willing to pay for the product. †¢ Second-degree price discrimination The producer sells different units of output at different prices, but every individual who buys t e h same amount of the good pays the same price. Second-degree price discrimination is much more common in practice. Good examples of this discrimination are volume discounts and coupons. †¢ Third-degree price discrimination The producer sells the output to different people at different prices, but every unit of output sold to a given person sells at the same price. Customers are divided into more groups, which have different demand curves and different price elasticity. The highest price is charged to the groups with the lowest elasticity. Examples of this discrimination are student discounts. 6.2 Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff is an example of a nonlinear pricing and consists of two parts. The first part of the tariff usually comes in the form of a membership, an annual or monthly license and is supposed to cover fixed cost. The second part of the tariff is related to the usage (number of reports transferred, number of bits, layers, etc.) and covers the incremental cost. This pricing scheme is often used in telecommunication. Users are charged for the connection to the network and additionally for the usage. Two-part tariff pricing scheme can be very naturally applied to a geomarketing service. The first part of the tariff represents a membership fee, an annual or monthly licence for access to the data, reports and maps; the second part is a n additional fee usually based on the volume transferred. Price P for a geoinformation service is then P = p0 + p v.q where p0 pv q fixed fee (annual, monthly, membership, etc.) price set for a volume transferred quantity transferred. The revenue collected from the first part of the tariff (p0 ) is supposed to cover the fixed cost of producing the first copy of the Geoinformation product. The price of u sage (pv ) should cover the incremental cost and the cost of transaction. The combination of the membership and usage constructed for the predicted demand is set so that the company’s total cost is recovered. How high the fixed fee and the price of usage s hould be is an important question. Availability of the raw data at low price will change the nature of the market. The price for both parts of the tariff (p0 and pv ) will form according to the equilibrium rules of supply and demand. 6.3 Pareto Efficiency of the Two-part Tariff Two-part tariff can disadvantage a certain segment of the users. Imagine a geomarketing service company offering geographic data over the Internet. For the simplicity of reasoning, imagine there exist two segments of users; those who use data on a regular basis and have a high willingness to pay (governmental institutions, ministries, utilities, etc.), and those who seldom need data (students, individuals, small and medium companies, etc.) and have low willingness to pay. In this case, a high fixed fee excludes the users with low willingness to pay, occasional users who need only a small volume of the data and are not willing to pay an annual membership fee or a license. The necessary condition for Pareto efficiency is not satisfied. 6.4 Quantity Discounts Quantity discounts are a form of a nonlinear price where the provider charges a lower price for a higher volume purchased. The opportunity of selling high volumes at a low price is often neglected in geoinformation business. Increased revenue from the higher volume at lower price enables the provider to improve the service and reduce prices for all users. The quantity discounts are usually designed in order to stimulate sales, but can complicate the billing and accounting system. Pareto efficiency of quantity discounts depends on the volume-price categories offered by the service provider. This pricing strategy might disadvantage users with low willingness to pay, not being able to pay nor interested in purchasing higher volumes. 6.5 Term-Volume Commitments According to this strategy the user agrees with the service provider to pay a certain amount of money for the service in advance. The payment is set according to the predicted demand for the service. This kind of agreement usually involves some discounts, because the whole payment is done at once and at the beginning of the period. Short-term contracts involve lower reduction in price than longer contracts. This strategy reduces billing and accounting cost and is often used by Internet providers. For example, â€Å"a one-year-term commitment to spend $2000/month obtains a discount of 18%â€Å" (Gong and Srinagesh 1998), for the 5 -year contracts the Internet providers use up to 60% discount. Term-volume commitments satisfy the Pareto efficiency requirement if the user can choose among different schemes and are designed indiscriminately. 6.6 List of Price Options Different pricing options can be combined and offered as a list of price options. In geomarketing services, the two-part tariff is often combined with an additional pricing option, the uniform pricing scheme. Under the uniform pricing scheme, the user pays the price (p2 ), which is proportional to the data transferred. Usually the tariff per volume purchased (p2 ) is higher in the uniform pricing scheme than the price (p1 ) proposed in the two-part tariff scheme, but the user need not pay an annual membership fee or license. The user profits if he is an occasional user, who needs a small volume of data. The sum he is willing to pay in this case is lower than the annual membership or license fee plus the cost of the data transferred.

Entry into Foreign Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Entry into Foreign Market - Essay Example Despite Cameron International Corporation’s involvement in other developed nations, the company’s production and innovative approaches towards development of oil extraction equipment may hinder the desired success if it fails to establish the actual needs of the oil drilling industry in Myanmar. The risk involved in the company’s strategic entry in foreign markets is the lack of research and development programs to establish the unseen barriers, and the dependence on its large capital base for diversification of investments (Griese, 2004). Certainly, the risks of production that prompted to the explosion of BP oil rig revealed technological failures thus; the company’s profitability should not serve to guarantee success in Myanmar since technological breakdowns might lead to expulsion and exploitation from the mining industry (Crouch & Maclean, 2011). Arguably, the institutional risks present in the oil extraction corporation serve as deterrence to success in entering the Myanmar oil industry. The institutional risks born to the multinational corporation are; financial, human resources, and the corporate social responsibility practices (Meyer, 2010). However, the management is certain of prosperity in the market due to its capital amount set aside for the investment. VRIO analysis to determine the existence of support to entry VRIO analysis in Cameron Corporation establishes a strategic scheme towards the global market approach. Firms draw their market entry strategies to reflect their vision statements and determine the success of objectives upon any of the corporation’s segments. Ideally, VRIO abbreviations denote value, rarity, imitating or counterfeiting, and organization’s competitiveness in guaranteeing profound market entry variables (Griese, 2004). As an organization, Cameron International boasts over its business success in the continued production of oil services and equipment. The sectoral approach in the ene rgy production industry enables the CAM Corporation of continued innovation of ideal equipment in correlation to the raising performance together that seeks to denote its essential need to deliver value to the mining companies in order to become the global market leader in supplying valves and fittings in subsea oil wells. Secondly, the company asserts that its segment strategy is to enable corporations and countries to meet their energy services needs (Duncan, 2009). CAM targets those companies that operate in petroleum and natural gas exploration and extraction. Due to the strategic involvement in the energy industry, the company is arguably a leader in the production and marketing of pressure control equipment critical for competent oil and natural gas extraction programs. The company’s underlying strengths of rich history in production of valves used in exploration sites in over 300 countries acquaint vast opportunities towards success in its bid to enter the Myanmar oil industry. CAM competes with FMC Technologies and National-Oilwell Varco as the market challenger and market follower respectively (Lincoln, 2007). Therefore, the VRIO analysis declares proficient support in CAM’s entry in the Myanmar oil production industr

HCI Design Project Usability Evaluation Criteria Research Paper

HCI Design Project Usability Evaluation Criteria - Research Paper Example Several criteria have been established for evaluating the usability of a user interface design in the current design paradigms. For purposes of this evaluation we shall focus on the heuristic evaluation and usability testing criteria that has been supported by several authors in the field of user interface design (Madan & Dubey, 2012). Jacob Nielsen is considered the father of Heuristic Evaluation criteria. He developed a set of heuristics referred to as Jacob Nielsen’s heuristics that are used for user interface design and evaluation to date (Inostroza, Rusu, Roncagliolo, Jimenez & Rusu, 2012). According to Nielsen, the main goal of the heuristic evaluation criteria is to identify the problems that are associated with the design of a user interface. He developed the criteria based on his experience as a long serving consultant of usability engineering (Inostroza et al, 2012). Heuristics are common evaluation techniques in the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) that is mainly conducted in the context of typical tasks that are performed by users. The designer obtains feedback from the users regarding the compatibility of the interface with their intended use and the performance in meeting their needs (Madan & Dubey, 2012). In a study carried out to determine usability of the Bogazici University Industrial Engineering website interface, heuristic evaluation was employed for evaluation of the usability of the user interface. To accomplish this task several scenarios were created for usability testing, user groups were determined based on their computing knowledge and skills. Their performance was then evaluated based on task completion success, time spent on the task, rate of accomplishment or quittance.

The Day Education Came to Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Day Education Came to Life - Essay Example The experience which impacted my education was the graduation ceremony of my older sister from Texas A & M University. I got an opportunity to spend week on the university campus along with my sister, prior to the graduation ceremony. I was studying in a high school during that period and was not much interested in education. Like many of my friends, I took education lightly and gave more importance to other curriculum activities like playing, singing, dancing etc during that period. I spent lengthy hours in front of the computers, chatting with my friends with the help of social networks such as Facebook at that time. Majority of the home assignments provided by the teachers rested in my study table as unattended. The deadlines of many of those assignments were passed and I showed fewer interests in completing those things because of my lack of interests in education. I did consider education as a burden during my school studies. I thought that the society and family are trying to i mpose an unnecessary burden upon the children in the form of education. Since, I never felt any financial problems in my home, I failed to realise the importance of education in shaping the career of a person, at that time. A & M is the oldest institution in Texas for higher education. More than 50000 students from different parts of the world are studying at present in this university campus. The university campus spreads across 5200 acres of land at present even though it was started in humble manner in 1871. In 1960’s it underwent huge expansion programs and the present infrastructure of this university is developed as a result of that expansion programs. â€Å"The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened in 1997 on West Campus, making Texas A&M one of only a few universities to host a presidential library on their campus† (Texas A&M). In short, Texas A & M has huge tradition, better infrastructure and a beautiful landscape which attracted me very much. It should be noted that I never came across with a college campus until that time and this experience made huge changes in my way of thinking about education. The preparations and the enthusiasms displayed by the campus authorities and the college students for the graduation ceremony attracted me very much during my stay at Texas A & M. The University campus was decorated beautifully for the ceremony. One could clearly realize the importance given to the graduation ceremony by the authorities from these decorations and the special clothing provided to the students who successfully completed their graduation. I have witnessed many of the successful graduates including my sister receiving their graduation certificate from a dignitary. Before the presenting the certificates, some of the dignitaries present on the occasion, delivered some concise lectures to make the students aware of the importance of education and graduation certificates. One of the dignitaries has told the audience tha t the most precious thing in this universe is education rather than anything else. He has pointed out that the basic necessities of human include education also along with food, air, shelter and clothing. He has pointed out that education helps people to attain majority of the basic necessities of human life. He has also mentioned that education leads a person from the darker sides of the world to the brighter sides of the wo

RHB Credit Card Marketing Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 9750 words

RHB Credit Card Marketing - Dissertation Example Drugan, my project supervisor from The University for guiding me on the project proposal and widen my knowledge to compile the project. Many thanks to Mr. Vellan at RHB Bank Sales and Marketing, Bangsar ,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for sharing vital information and helping me to solve many problems in the process of this project. I would like to convey my special thanks to my family who has always been behind me and without them, I would not be where I am today. Thank You very much. Contents Page 1. Introduction 1.1. Objective of the Study. 6 1.2. General Objective 6 1.3. Project Objective. 6 2. Literature Review 2.1 Significance of Study.. 6 2.2 Scope of Study.. 7 3. Methodology 3.1 Research Design 8 3.2 Type of Research 8 3.3 Research Approach. 9 3.3 Research Strategy 9 3.4 Identification of the Sample Population. 10 3.5 Sample Technique and Sample Size.. 10 4. Findings and Analysis 4.1 Classification of Data.. 10 4.2 Data Collection Method10 4.3 Data Analysis.11 4.4 Limitation of Study.. 11 5. RHB Bank and Credit Card Services 5.1 An Overview of Banking Sector in Malaysia 12 5.2 Company Description - RHB14 - 20 5.3 Strategic Plan and Focus.. 21 5.4 Core Competitiveness. 22-25 5.5 Product Market Focus 26 - 31 5.6 Marketing and Product Objectives 5.7 Marketing Program..31 5.7.1 Product Strategy 31 5.7.2 Pricing Strategy.. 33" 5.7.3 Promotion Strategy..34-36 5.7.4 Distribution Strategy. 37& 5.8 Financial Data and Projection 5.8.1 Past Projection 39-41... 2.1 Significance of the Study: I have referred to several journals and books to retrieve information about the international banking system. The performance and financial standing of RHB Bank has been borrowed from different banking reports, and the annual reports of the financial institute itself. The credit card banking system has been thoroughly reviewed and explained, and opinion of several Asian economists have been consolidated to develop firm understanding of the importance and advantages of banking through credit card. The article has hinted at evolution of modernized banking system, and it is hoped that RHB Bank shall be among leading institutes to take an initiative to modernize the banking system. At present, RHB Bank is operating in the country with huge number of credit cards holders. But the current trend of the credit card indicates a rising rivalry among the different competitor in the industry. Hence, a good number of RHB Bank card holders are not continuing with the bank but switching to its competitors mainly because of better facilities such as more credit limit, less fees and charges etc. This might not cause a great deal of losing profit of the RHB Bank however it is a matter of bank reputation. To have an insight from the practical credit cardholders of RHB Bank. At the same time, emphasize on the different existing product and services offered by the bank for their valuable cardholders. Therefore, this study tries to give some suggestion of new product introduction.

Ocean biology 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ocean biology 1 - Essay Example The aim of his theory was to discuss the concept openly. Therefore, Wegener did not present the theory as a proven fact. There are some objects, which can float in saltwater but not in fresh water. Whether an object will sink or float, entirely depends on the relative density of the fluid itself. In universe, everything is made of molecules. Density can be described through the concept of molecules. There are some objects that are packed densely and some other objects are packed loosely. This concept is called density. Now the objects that are made of tightly packed molecules will sink in low density liquid. The opposite will happen for the objects, which are made up of loosely packed molecules. I have done an experiment in my home with an egg. I have observed that egg placed in the fresh water sink immediately but it floated in saltwater. I have done another experiment with metallic spoon. In this experiment, also spoon floated in the salt water but sank in tap water. The next experiment was on metallic pen. The result of this experiment also gave the same result. Metallic pen floated in salt water but sink in the fresh water. Throughout the world, water and wind, usually erode about 20 billion tones of rock debris and dirt from the continents and deposit into the seafloor. In average, there is 1300 feet of sediment in beneath the sea. Many processes accelerate this continuous adding of salt and other chemicals into the seas and oceans. Most common chemicals are sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) which are dissolved in the water easily. These chemicals are the basic constituents of salt that is sodium chloride. According to research, ocean restrains around 1370 million cubic kilometers of water and around 14700 trillion tons of sodium. Every year around 457 million tones of sodium dump into the ocean through river transportation, land surface erosion etc. Sometimes in some specific area Volcanic dust also dumps some amount of sodium into the water. Erosion of

Explore and critically assess the EU's understanding of, commitment to Essay

Explore and critically assess the EU's understanding of, commitment to and strategy for sustainable development - Essay Example It has held several other meetings with the main agenda of enforcing and further expounding the definition of sustainable as per the arising issues. EU has enshrined sustainable development in the article 2 of its Treaty. In 2000, the Lisbon European Council meeting fused sustainable development in it socio-economic reform agenda. Later in 2002, the Gothenburg Summit adopted the Strategy for Sustainable Development. But the implementation of the strategy has not been as smooth as initially thought. This is reflected in the 2005 progress assessment which showed that there had been worsening trends since 2001. It was found that there had been little or no change and in some cases negative trend in the areas of climate change, public health, poverty levels, social lives, degradation of natural resources and threatened biodiversity. In the same year the head of states went further to adopt guiding principle on which sustainable development agenda will be based on. These guiding principles are what can be used as a base to understand the EU understanding of sustainable development. According to Jordan (2005), EU gives the understanding that there are various areas in human life that needs to be integrated in the development agenda if the world has t... In line with this it launched the European Climate Change Program in 2000. In 2005 it went further and started the EU's green house gas Emission Trading Scheme and a second climate change program. Its commitment to the issue of climate and development has not slowed and in 2007 it made commitment to reduce emission by 20% by 2020. EU worked tirelessly in campaigning for other countries to honor the Kyoto Protocol after United States withdrawal in 2001. Although it has faced problems in implementing the Kyoto Protocol commitment, it has made progress and efforts are needed to reach the emission cut of 8% by 2012. Although seen as a concern to the environment, this strategy may end up hurting the economy of the whole region. EU has been crictsized for going it alone in the fight against climate change regardless of the effects it will have on the economy. There has also been criticism from other bodies that the policies on environment currently pursued by EU are not enough and there is need to do more to save the situation. According to Skeldon (1997), the go it alone approach used by EU may not have the desired effects on climate change and there is need for world efforts to tackle the problem. The other problem that EU addresses in its sustainable development is the issue concerning public health. This has been a very important issue for all countries in the world and each one strives to make the health of its citizens better. EU has developed a health forum through which information is channeled to the public on the need for community health awareness. Through the forum, health professional can make their contributions in

Aristogoras of Miletus Essay Example for Free

Aristogoras of Miletus Essay In 499 BCE, Aristagoras made a mistake that greatly changed history and led to western ideas being spread throughout the world, a major turning point in shaping the culture of future generations. It resulted in many wars and conquests but ultimately this mistake is why today delegates to the United Nations wear suits and ties instead of turbans. Aristagoras was the Persian governor of Miletus on the edge of the Persian Empire. The nearby island of Naxos rebelled against the Persian Empire and Aristagoras seized the opportunity to take it back and get a promotion to a better position from the Persian emperor Darius I. At the very least, even if it did not lead to advancement, he could add Naxos to his growing state and get money from the taxes on its citizens. Since Naxos was an island, Aristagoras needed a navy to conquer it so he got the help of Artaphernes, the governor of Lydia and Darius’ brother, to supply his navy to take Naxos in exchange for some of the plunder. In addition, Artaphernes provided Aristagoras with his skilled and clever naval admiral, Megabates. Unfortunately, Aristagoras publically insulted Megabates leading him to warn the people of Naxos of the impending invasion. The invasion failed because the people of Naxos were prepared and Aristagoras was defeated. The problem was that Aristagoras promised Artaphernes a portion of his booty and since he had none, Artaphernes would take revenge. At the very least Aristagoras would be exiled, but most likely Artaphernes would kill him, easily within his power since he was the brother of the king and had connections. To save his skin, Aristagoras started a revolt against Persia and got some of his neighbors to help him, such as Athens and Ephesus. His army marched to Sardis, the capital of Lydia, and burnt it to the ground while Artaphernes hid in the citadel. Darius I saw what happened and quickly defeated all of the rebels except for the Athenians who escaped by ship. Darius then launched the first of the Persian Wars which culminated at the Battle of Marathon, where the Greeks easily defeated the Persians, ending the war. The second of the Persian Wars was launched by Darius’ son, Xerxes, which the Persians â€Å"won† after the battle of Thermopolis, but they later lost Greece in a rebellion. Greece survived and a few hundred years later, the son of Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, spread Western culture in his vast conquests. â€Å"The world as we know today† is because of Aristagoras’ mistake that shaped the west (Fawcett 5). Context of that World The Mediterranean world in 499 BCE was very different from our own; the main power was the Persian Empire. Persia was a very large empire consisting of twenty provinces called satrapies which were ruled by a governor, or satrap. The satrap was appointed by the king who at that time was Darius I. The satrap’s duties included taxing the people, acting as a judge, and making important decisions for the satrapy. The farther the satrapy was from the capital, the more autonomous it was because at that time the fastest communication was on horseback, which often took months to get from one part of the empire to another. It also took many months to raise an army and march it to the farthest part of the empire if a problem needed to be handled. As a result, the satraps on the far reaches of the Persian Empire acted as kings of their own satrapies and could, in general, do as they pleased, which describes Aristagoras and his satrapy Miletus. While the rule of the different satraps varied based on their location, they were all united with a uniform system of laws and judges. They shared abundant resources and order was maintained. They were also all connected by a well maintained and patrolled system of roads and cultural and technological exchange was ongoing. This existed in sharp contrast to the Greeks, who were divided in hundreds of different independent entities, called polis, ruled by tyrants. Though bound together by language, religion, and lifestyle, they were a resource poor region. As a result, each polis was fiercely jealous of independence and suspicious of their neighbors, with frequent conflicts erupting. While, collectively, they occupied a large area, they were not a dominant world force at that time. All this changed after Darius declared war, and the major polis came together and formed an alliance to counteract the Persian threat. Although Greece continued as an independent collection of city states after they defeated the Persians, they were eventually brought together under the rule of Philip of Macedon. Expansion of the Greek Empire continued under the rule of his son Alexander the Great as the Greek way of life spread throughout much of the Mediterranean area and into southwest Asia, forming the foundation western culture. Bibliography Abbott, E. A History of Greece, Part II: From the Ionian Revolt to the Thirty Years’ Peace 500-445 B.C. New York, Putnam, 1892. Although an old work, this book will provide a good synopsis of Greek history and the impact of Aristagoras’ actions on Greek history. Curtis, John E. and Nigel Tallis. Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Los Angelos: University of California Press, 2005. This resource provides an in-depth perspective of the complete history of the Persian Empire and the impact of Aristagoras. It also has a lengthy bibliography that can be used to find further resources. Fawcett, Bill. 100 Mistakes that Changed History. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. This book provides an excellent overview of Aristagoras’ rule of Miletus and the subsequent rebellion that resulted in the war between the Persian Empire and the Greeks and how his actions changed history. Herodotus, The Histories, Revised. Trans. Aubrey de Salincourt. Ed. John M. Marincola. New York: Penguin Books, 2003. The only existing primary source, this edition also includes editorial comments to aid in understanding of the text, a glossary, timetable, and index. An updated bibliography is also provided which can be used to find additional sources for further research. Holland, Tom. Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West. New York: Doubleday, 2006. A relatively recent work, this book will provide a more updated viewpoint and accounting of historical events surrounding Aristagoras. How, W. and J. Wells. A Commentary on Herodotus, with Introduction and Appendices Volume 2 (Books V-IX). New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Payroll Framework Implementation

Payroll Framework Implementation The following report marks the use of the organisation and gets proper use of the organizational support for the understanding of the situation that marks the development and the operation of the organization. The concerned project consists of three prime tasks which are marked as section 1, 2 and 3. Section 1 describes the implementation of two preliminary frameworks-COBIT and COSO in the payroll failure of the Queensland healthcare system. Section 2 of the report deals with describing various frameworks required to sustain the failure, which had been implemented by the health department, IBM and other parties. Section 3 develops an understanding of 2 stages concerning System Development Life Cycle and its working in the project. Importance of payroll framework in any organisation lies in marking and demanding proper as well as smooth development of the organisational management. The management of the organization and the play of the management in terms of dealing with the organisational workers mark the smooth operation of the organisation. It can be so detected that the organization along with the workers are bound with the relation of employer and employee common thread of paying and receiving of salary and wages respectively. The opportunity in the following will be based on the understanding of the consequences if the framework of COBIT and COSO were implemented by the organization. COBIT: As supported by De Haes et al. (2013, p.320), COBIT is one of the latest version of ISACAs globally accepted framework for the proper end to end governance of enterprises and organization related to IT. The central management of the framework helps in the creating of the values in the enterprises. The prime use of the organizational support and the use of the framework is the smooth management of the leadership, guidance and practice with the use of the analytical tool that is managed by COBIT. As supported by Rubino and Vitolla (2014, p.770), the framework helps in the better management of the enterprises IT sector and makes the most of it with the smooth development of the organisation. COBIT stands for Control Objectives for Information and related Technology. This frame work helps in the better bridging of the central breach in the field of the IT department of the organisation. Cobit framework allows implementation of the success factors that could essentially guide the f ailure of the payroll system in the health department of Queensland (Chang et al. (2014, p.200). Proper and appropriate level of governance is being provided if Cobit framework had been followed in the concerned project. It helps to maintain collaboration among the employees and support the financial base of the system so that any collapse would be sufficiently handled by the Ministry of health as well as the government of the nation. COSO: As supported by Rubino et al. (2017, p.99), the framework of COSO is used by the managers of the organization for the development of the organization in terms of gaining proper view of the organizations internal control and thus makes the managers of the organization smooth and better operating ground for the operation of the organization. This framework helps in the well management of the organization operation for the better development of the organisations internal process for for development. As mentioned by Seyal et al. (2016, p.240), the COSO framework helps in well understanding of the internal environment of the organization and marks the risk of the environment in order to gain risk assessment benefits. The COSO framework also helps in the proper management of the information also helps in the management of the communication gathered from external and inter source of the organization. The policies and the procedure help in better management of the organization provided by the COSO. As supported by Gantman and Fedorowicz (2016, p.80), the use of the managerial ground of COSO helps in proper formation of strategic planning for development of organization and maintaining of the development ground in the society. Lattice: As mentioned by Rubino et al. (2017, p.200), the LATTICE framework is an obsolete one ion the proper managing of the development of the organization. The smooth operation of the organization is based on the framework of the organization in the opportunity of the organization. The framework is literally based on the smooth operation of the organization with the help of the scaffold in the organisation. The guidelines of the organization help in the marking of the organisational procedures. The system of the organization is better managed by the organizational development and organizational use of the similar guidelines for the overall development of the organization. The overall development of the organization is based on the guidelines of the organization. The overall development as based on the guidelines does not allow the managers to go out of the space and think. Rather leads in the operation of the orgnisation with fixed and close ended opportunity. As supported by Gil- Pechuà ¡n et al. (2014, p.190), the development of the organization is not well supported by the LATTICE frame because of the close ended operation. The key strategies implemented by the health department of Queensland have been to identify the end users of the proposed system, train the management and staff along with defining requirements of the business (Goosen, 2016, p.70). The objectives of the framework as provided by the health department of Queensland focused on imparting adequate training and education to the staff and enlighten them about relevant information. The payroll system being disparate, two basic systems or support frameworks have been adopted- LATTICE and Environment for Scheduling Personnel (ESP). ESP as well as LATTICE has been progressively utilized since 1996 till 2002. The solution of LATTICE was gradually becoming obsolete with the passing years since it needed a minimum amount of interventions manually for accommodating complex award along with incentive structures to be paid to the employees. Opportunities in the organisation have been developed through the implementation of the framework now approved as one of the obsolete one. The situation of the organisation was into a greater alarming position because of the use in the framework of LATTICE,  that mark the closed Indian guidelines of the organisation in the development of the organisational manager skill and knowledge on the work performed by workers of organisation.  As mentioned by Pandeya et al. (2016, p.263),  the achievement of the success in an organisation can be only possible with the help of the development in organisational use and proper management of skill the managers have. The use of the LATTICE went down because of the minimum effect on the mitigation of problems that arise in the organisation. Due to the traditional framework of LATTICE as there was no has effective mitigation procedures that the managers could have a well for the development of the organisation out of the critical situation. As mentioned by IBM is one of the control process that help in managing organisational and managerial work in a smooth and development.  The queen Queensland State Government for shared service initiative (SSI) was implemented by IBM for preparation of the organisation.  at the IBM was not the only form for information that they used for the development of the organisation but logical and SAP were also out of the,  operation of Organisation in an organisation development situation.  In 2005 the IBM was contracted by FSI for transformation of the organisation formed.  The process and procedure of IBM was of performance award interpretation in the society. The implementation of the Operation of the organisation Was bitter supported by IBM because of the eradication of the old system used by the organisation and  implementation of the system that highest tax act in SAP finance, SAP HR, for the restoring system of the organisation worker. The implementation of the word with t he help of IBM was better in chance of making proper work to bring solution will gather the employee of the organisation and maintain a proper authority in operation of the organisation which also included management and implementation on new projects of the organisation with special care and effective efficiency. Development of the study and operation of the organisation have also mention the developed organisation of structure which grows to be IBMs one of the most important factor in the development of organisation society. According to the observation of Houghton et al. (2016, p.365), among the other parties or contractors who were involved in the payroll system of Queensland health department, Corptech was much well-known and reputed one. The main objectives of Corptech have been to oversee entire implementation of health payroll strategies across all the Department of Queensland Government, commencing strategy of SAP as a Human Resource (HR) practice as well as Work brain solution and managing of prime contractor. Payroll tests have been successful by implementing the solutions of SAP HR along with Work brain solutions unlike LATTICE solution. Since there was no specific methodology of project management had been followed, hence, these solutions tended to be appropriate and the ownership, responsibilities and roles had been crystal clear to the employees as well as managers for avoiding the collapse of the system. Supported by Fair, (2016, p.52),  the first stage of the system development life cycle manages to be the System study which mark sweep elementary stage of system development life cycle.  the investigation of the system development life  cycle system study can be traced back to actually and physical system of the organisation.  This is Temple along with System study health in and listing the study referring to the problem objective terms of reference constraint aspects and effect of the benefits and impacts of the demerits of the organisation.  The use of the system study in the society and in the organisation is for the better identification of the problem and for the initiation of the project. As inferred by Ling-Chin et al. (2016, p.377), the background analysis also is done by the help of system study.  Smooth operation of an organisation is maintained and accepted by the proposal of the cycle procedures from the next step.  The study helps in better identification o f the issues and the mitigation of such issues related to the inference and findings of the work done for the development of the organisational procedure and structure. As inferred by Ioppolo et al. (2016, p.180), the feasibility studies is determined by the option and development of the organisation through which study is accepted and used for the better management of the society.  The prime and the most important objective of a study thing feasible is not to solve the problems but to identify the scope of the object to that will help an organisation to add that precede into better developmental situation and opportunities. The economic feasibility is identified for the Solving problems of an organisation we use of better economic and cost effective methods. The use of the cost effective method and proper benefit analysis of the situation smart the feasibility of the study in terms of economic condition. The organisational feasibility is 5 determination of proposed system is consistent and helps an organisation in strategic objective development. Development of the organisation depends on the understanding of system that works for the operation of an object in an organisation As inferred by Houghton et al. (2016, p.363), Social feasibility marks the situation where the objective of the organisation is accepted and enjoyed by every community of the society without causing any social issues on cultural problems. It is essential to understand the impact of the society in an organisation for detecting the development of the operation and cultural views of the organisation.  It is evident that an organisation should maintain the technical feasibility also for coping with the problems of technical issues that arises in daily operation of an organisational work. Referring to the case study, it could be concluded that the health payroll system of Queensland in Australia has failed consistently and doctors along with other health professionals were not paid or wrongly paid. This resulted in imbalanced health institutional structure of Queensland. Even political unrest erupted due to this failure in the payroll system. The governance and the project management engaged in this project of payroll failure have been hardly successful in implementing appropriate framework for overcoming the system failure. However, these frameworks have been sincerely implemented and brought about few yet relevant changes in the payroll system in Queensland. References   Chang, S.I., Yen, D.C., Chang, I.C. and Jan, D., (2014). Internal control framework for a compliant ERP system. Information Management, 51(2), pp.187-205. De Haes, S., Van Grembergen, W. and Debreceny, R.S., (2013). COBIT 5 and enterprise governance of information technology: Building blocks and research opportunities. Journal of Information Systems, 27(1), pp.307-324. Fair, M., (2016). Generalized record linkage system-Statistics Canadas record linkage software. Austrian Journal of Statistics, 33(12), pp.37-53 Gantman, S. and Fedorowicz, J., (2016). Communication and control in outsourced IS development projects: mapping to COBIT domains. International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 21, pp.63-83. Gil-Pechuà ¡n, I., Pullicino, P. and Garcà ­a, M.P.C., (2014). Implementation Methodology of Effective Governance to Ensure the Quality of IT Service. In Action-Based Quality Management (pp. 175-192). Springer International Publishing. Goosen, R., (2016). The development of an integrated IT risk assessment questionnaire for internal auditors use. Southern African Journal of Accountability and Auditing Research, 18(1), pp.63-71. Houghton, R.J., White, C., Golightly, D. and Wilson, J.R., (2016). Span of control in supervision of rail track work. Cognition, Technology Work, 18(2), pp.361-378 Ioppolo, G., Cucurachi, S., Salomone, R., Saija, G. and Shi, L., (2016). Sustainable local development and environmental governance: A strategic planning experience. Sustainability, 8(2), p.180 Ling-Chin, J., Heidrich, O. and Roskilly, A.P., (2016). Life cycle assessment (LCA)-from analysing methodology development to introducing an LCA framework for marine photovoltaic (PV) systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 59, pp.352-378 Pandeya, N., McLeod, D.S., Balasubramaniam, K., Baade, P.D., Youl, P.H., Bain, C.J., Allison, R. and Jordan, S.J., (2016). Increasing thyroid cancer incidence in Queensland, Australia 1982-2008-true increase or overdiagnosis?. Clinical endocrinology, 84(2), pp.257-264 Rubino, M. and Vitolla, F., (2014). Internal control over financial reporting: opportunities using the COBIT framework. Managerial Auditing Journal, 29(8), pp.736-771. Rubino, M., Vitolla, F. and Garzoni, A., (2017). The impact of an IT governance framework on the internal control environment. Records Management Journal, 27(1), pp.81-101. Rubino, M., Vitolla, F. and Garzoni, A., (2017). How IT controls improve the control environment. Management Research Review, 40(2), pp.155-205. Sanyanunthana, K., 2016. Education Quality Development for Excellence Performance with Higher Education by Using COBIT 5. Education, 1, p.524 Seyal, A.H., Poon, S.H. and Tajuddin, S., (2016), November. A Preliminary Evaluation of ICT Centers Performance Using COBIT Framework: Evidence from Institutions of Higher Learning in Brunei Darussalam. In International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Information System (pp. 235-244). Springer International Publishing.

Issues In Intercultural Marriage

Issues In Intercultural Marriage An intercultural marriage is a union of two people involving numerous cultures and backgrounds. When two various cultures combine together, there may be significant challenges they have to face. A culture may differ from one to another due socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Culture is a system of shared beliefs and values and is constantly evolving and changing around the world. The presence of intercultural marriages and intimacy is clear and expanding in societies throughout the Culture may consist of shared language, religion, or ethnicity. America is the one of the greatest multicultural and multiracial societies in the world at the moment. Nevertheless, this may come across as a shock to most people but as lately as 1966, 17 states in United States actually had laws against the interracial marriage and all of the states regulated marriage between whites and other races in the country. Despite of the significant number of intercultural marriages in the U.S today, mere empirical research has been done to determine the nature of these marriages (Ngye Snyder, 2000) Communication style and interpersonal relationships are fundamental aspects of culture and can vary dramatically from one culture to another. It is note worthy to remember that everyone on this earth has culture, not just those clusters that are considered civilized. The majority of culture is unseen, below the surface. For example, when a Russian man marries an Italian it is not only the differences in native language (Russian vs. Italian) and religion (Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic) but also a host of cultural differences associated with such factors as expression of emotion, conflict expression and management, the role of the f family of origin in raising children (Sullivan Cottone, 2007)The beliefs and values that lie beneath the surface can be the most difficult to change when it is necessary.(Progressive Scholar, 2010) interracial marriages are not always intercultural marriages, as in some countries, for example United States, people of different races can share the sam e cultural background. (Source Wikipedia, Last access 17th August) it is easy to comprehend why it is difficult to let go of a tradition or expectation. It isnt easy to deal with the legacy that weve all grown up with in our ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Though it seems to be a very romantic love story in the beginning but the truth is,it can be very challenging and frustrating in real life. And it is simply not about being racist, marriage has a deeper meaning to it, which dwells in understanding it, is possible to have extremely strong and natural negative feelings surrounding an interracial relationship or a marriage even though youre not consider as racist. Legal or not illegal the question is should interracial marriages been encouraged? The union between two different cultures altogether will give space to different experiences and opportunities in life, but mostly difficulties in the marriage life where it is concerned. Adoptions to a different culture altogether maybe not turn out to be an easy task. Individually ethnic and cultural variances put pressure on the marriage itself. With two diverse cultures, a family often has struggle understanding the differences between the families. Most of the time, such differences are not even recognized and unexplained. At this position an even larger problem with intercultural marriages. It is easy to look at why it is difficult to let go of a tradition or expectation.It isnt easy to deal with the legacy that weve all grown up with in our ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Numerous cultures will consume of different marriage laws, customs and also parental disagreements which will lead into disputes. There will be lower material satisfaction, higher divorce rates due to logistics. Language barriers, different traditions and societys disapproval these factors will lead into higher failure of the marriage. Hence, a union between two cultures should not be encouraged due to the factors mentioned above. The report will consist of three major factors which are mainly focused on miss- contribution towards an inter-cultural marriage. Initially how the marriage is affected by the cultural shock, diverse of marriage laws which can lead in to disagreements plus adaptation to a various cultures and environment factors. Secondly, the societys points of view, Spouse facing discrimination due to colour and differences, if he/she is beyond the racial divide. Last point will conclude of dissipation of culture. The report contains information based on various countries and issues with diverse cultures marriages. BODY OF CONTENT ADAPTATION TO A DIFFERENT CULTURE The main intention of getting marriage is to emotionally, spiritually and physically unite a men and women together, as husband and wife, it is a commitment made in the presence of God, and is valid until death.Intercultural marriages are often influenced by external factors that can create confrontation, and disagreement in relationships. Different cultures endure vastly diverse moral, ethical and value foundations that influence their perceptions of individual, family and societal lifestyle. When these fundamentals are operating alongside the foundation of different cultural roots, as in intercultural marriages, problems and disagreement often times occur. It takes effort to combine two cultures successfully, and a willing attitude to learn from both partners. The first argument against intercultural marriages is the cultural shock (adaptation to a new culture). When considering an intercultural marriage either one of the partners have to get introduced to a new culture. Ideally both have to get use to each others cultures and laws to survive the marriage and this will create a lot of problems in the process. For an example A non Muslim marrying a Muslim will have to obey to certain laws in Islam; Islam forbids marriage between Muslim women and non-Muslim men. Therefore, any partner will have to convert and obey Islamic rules (sound vision, 2010). In the case of Muslim men marrying Jewish and Christian women, the situation is different. While Islam does allow this, Muslim men marrying Jews and Christians need to remember that living in the West, if they end up divorcing, the children will almost automatically be given to the mother. The converting process from one religion to another and adapting to new laws will create massive problems that will even end the marriage. Additional wrinkle in U.S. Muslim family law practices stems from the structure of authority in Islamic jurisprudence since there has never been an official church certifying individuals to speak on behalf of the religion, the field is open for any dedicated Muslim to seek to act as imam and lead a community (Quarishi Syed- Miller, 2001) therefore, non-Muslims have a very rare chance of wining and surviving in the marriage due to different laws in different cultural laws. Moving on,Intercultural marriages have contrasting differences between traditions and cultures. Although a few studies have looked into this aspect, cultural differences also stimulate marital conflicts particularly in intercultural marriages. In fact, the quantitative study of Takano (2002), pointed out that 19% of the marital discords in interethnic couples involved in his study are attributed to cultural differences. Couples that enter a cross-cultural marriage bring into their relationship vastly diverse assumptions and expectations about marriage and family life. Many of these assumptions flow out of the values, unspoken rules and belief systems that permeate their primary cultures. These unspoken values have become so much a part of their lives that they are almost hidden from view. For an example the way of celebrating Christmas is different in Germany rather than America (J). In fact, many of these cultural differences do not surface until after the couple is married.However, New experiences and new culture altogether may interest a adventurous spouse as its a unique onec ina life time experience and the difficulties greatly depend on how religious and culturally bond the families are. Not all think out of the box, New strange land, parents and language may cause distress in the beginning of the marriage life. One spouse will live in the country of origin and the other will be a stranger in a strange land the pleasantness mayb fall apart after sometime when trying to fit into a different family ,cuture. Marriage and customs differ from one country and to another culture .For example, Indian marriage customs are varying from marriage customs of Chinese traditions. In Japan the Japanese bride to be painted pure white from head to toe, visibly declaring her maiden status to the gods. There are two choices of headgear exist. One which is, the watabÃ…Â shi, is a white hood, the other is called the tsunokakushi, serves to hide the brides horns of jealousy. It also symbolizes the brides intention to become a gentle and obedient wife. During the period of the traditional wedding days, there would be a tilak ceremony (where the groom is anointed on his forehead), a cer emony for adorning the brides hand then cover the feet with henna (called mehendi) accompanied by Ladies Sangeet (music and dance) and many other pre-wedding ceremonies. Hence, marriage traditions, customs and beliefs may clash due to above points mentioned so far. Religion runs deeper since they practice their faith and it is a part of their cultural identity that they want to hang on to. The accurate, customs and special days associated with the religion remain significant to them. The regarding worship of the children will matter some religions deny the validity of all others and insist on conversions or demand that the children should be brought up in that religion. A couple might face difficulty in deciding on this above point and the spouse form the other religion may feel inferior and down. For example Orthodox Judaism teaches that the family must repudiate (sit shivah for) a child who marries a non-Jew: Islam demands obedience to gods law only as revealed by Muhammad, and also requires that a Muslim marry a fellow Muslim. The catholic churches until recent years insisted that a non-Catholic partner sign a prenuptial agreement to raise any catholic children. Particular Christian sects preach that all outsiders are damned to eternal fire and prohibit any marriage to people of different faith. At this specific point the problem may occur with the faith plays a major role in decision making this is if the partner is intensely religious. As they approach on each others separate territory, there is a new language, new customs and a new standard of normal to be learned. While culture a certain behavior might be accepted, here it might cause native offense. This sought of marriage is similar to a foreign alliance, with two separate people coming together and discovering the heritage and history of the other. Bibliography Ballard., (2006), The International YWAMer magazine, 6th of January 2006, issue June 2006. Berry, F (1992). Langston huges, before and beyong harlem. USA: Carol PuB.Co.Group. P56-75 Donovan, S Corbin, J (2007), Intermarriages, 5th October 2007, viewed on 16th of July 2010, http://www.jstor.org Gorilgirl, (2009), Broken Traditions? Intercultural Marriage and Cultural Continuity, 13th of july 2009, Available: http://gorigirl.com/broken-traditions-intercultural-marriage-and-cultural-continuity. Last accessed on 16th of july 2010 Romano, D (2006), Intercultural marriage, prmoses and pitfalls, 8th January 2006, Available: accessed on 26th of July 2010.

Humor and Tragedy in Virginia Woolfs Orlando Essay -- Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolfe's "Orlando" uses both humor and tragedy to observe humanity's often absurd and eccentric superficial constructions, both of class and gender. Woolfe creates the distinctions between male and female but continuously shatters them to reveal the illusions we create about gender. As George Meredith suggests, comedy is created when "The comic poet dares to show us men and women coming to this mutual likeness" (15). Woolfe, however, goes beyond simply bringing men and women together as equals; she blends them together as one androgynous individual, the effect of which causes us to laugh at the artificial way in which society attempts to define gender. After Orlando's matter-of-fact reaction to discovering he is a woman, the narrator with tongue-in-cheek explains how reasonable such a transformation is despite people's desire to define it as abnormal: "Many people, taking this into account, and holding that such a change of sex is against nature, have been at great pains to prove (1) that Orlando has always been a woman, (2) that Orlando is at this moment a man. Let b...

Essay --

Dell and Home Depot, the largest organizations in their field, have had to initiate new corporate images to sustain competitive advantages over their leading competitors. By learning their customers’ needs and preparing a marketing strategy to incorporate a variety of segments, each has entered the marketing era with diverse products and a dynamic marketing environment. Dell’s target market consists of personal computer users and corporate users. Dell is known for their ability to build computers suited to their customers needs. Because their largest customer base is marketed online, their geographic area is unlimited. Since technology is rapidly progressing and moving away from traditional PC’s, Dell has to diversify their products. Dell reaches out to a diverse group; however, their main focus represents the youth. With their focus moving toward smart phones, tablets, software, storage management and supercomputers this enables them to continue to be competitive in the computer marketplace. While Dell targets the younger generation, Home Depot focuses on a wider customer base ranging from twenty to sixty years of age. Their primary target market is do-it-yourselfers and contractors. Their main customers tend to be the smaller contractors with five to six workers. Because of this, Home Depot took a huge hit with the decline in real estate. As the housing market is recovering, they see increased profits and opportunity for growth potential. â€Å"As house prices appreciate people are more willing to invest in their homes† (Colvin, 2013, para. 3). Focusing on building stores in the suburban area, Home Depot targets those interested in fixing things and doing household activities such as gardening. Both Dell and Home Depot ar... ...as customers show up to complete their transaction and purchase additional items. Both companies, still using the traditional means of advertising such as television, radio, newspaper and magazines also recognize the importance of digital advertising and the cost effectiveness of it. Appealing to the modern technological society, increases customer satisfaction and promotes growth. The development of a widespread business strategy is important for a businesses success. It is important to develop an effective marketing mix to expose all products to the right environment. Monitoring this market environment as changes take place is crucial to ensure their audience and their needs have not changed. By knowing their target market, and integrating marketing mix, both companies are able to utilize their competitive advantages and initiate long term growth strategies. Essay -- Dell and Home Depot, the largest organizations in their field, have had to initiate new corporate images to sustain competitive advantages over their leading competitors. By learning their customers’ needs and preparing a marketing strategy to incorporate a variety of segments, each has entered the marketing era with diverse products and a dynamic marketing environment. Dell’s target market consists of personal computer users and corporate users. Dell is known for their ability to build computers suited to their customers needs. Because their largest customer base is marketed online, their geographic area is unlimited. Since technology is rapidly progressing and moving away from traditional PC’s, Dell has to diversify their products. Dell reaches out to a diverse group; however, their main focus represents the youth. With their focus moving toward smart phones, tablets, software, storage management and supercomputers this enables them to continue to be competitive in the computer marketplace. While Dell targets the younger generation, Home Depot focuses on a wider customer base ranging from twenty to sixty years of age. Their primary target market is do-it-yourselfers and contractors. Their main customers tend to be the smaller contractors with five to six workers. Because of this, Home Depot took a huge hit with the decline in real estate. As the housing market is recovering, they see increased profits and opportunity for growth potential. â€Å"As house prices appreciate people are more willing to invest in their homes† (Colvin, 2013, para. 3). Focusing on building stores in the suburban area, Home Depot targets those interested in fixing things and doing household activities such as gardening. Both Dell and Home Depot ar... ...as customers show up to complete their transaction and purchase additional items. Both companies, still using the traditional means of advertising such as television, radio, newspaper and magazines also recognize the importance of digital advertising and the cost effectiveness of it. Appealing to the modern technological society, increases customer satisfaction and promotes growth. The development of a widespread business strategy is important for a businesses success. It is important to develop an effective marketing mix to expose all products to the right environment. Monitoring this market environment as changes take place is crucial to ensure their audience and their needs have not changed. By knowing their target market, and integrating marketing mix, both companies are able to utilize their competitive advantages and initiate long term growth strategies.

BP Management Planning

Direction We strive to be a safety leader in our industry, a world-class operator, a responsible corporate citizen and a great employer. We are working to enhance safety and risk management, earn back trust and grow value. Keeping a relentless focus on safety is a top priority for us.Good management of risk helps to protect the people at the frontline, the places in which we operate and the value we create. We understand that operating in politically-complex regions and technically- demanding geographies, such as deep water and oil sands, requires particular sensitivity to local environments. We continue to enhance our systems, processes and standards, including how we manage contractors. ( Bp † ‘ , 2012) Situational Analysis Mitigate and eliminate situations that put the company at risk. Goal transparency is key to building trust and relationships.Simplify goals so interpretations are clear Have a broader presence in the communities we serve. Communicating is key to buil ding trust and relationships. Alternatives Mistrust by the community Lack of generated revenue Increased injuries to our team Lack of knowledge regarding BP Misconceptions regarding BP Possible increase revenue by the competition Goals Recognize potential for our presence to impact the lives of indigenous communities. Sensitivity to community displacement as a result of our company projects. Complete Revenue transparency with governments, nongovernmental organizations and international agencies.Manage environmental sensitivities and the potential impacts on communities. Create a culture of Safety. Oversight Day-to-day risk identification and management occurs in the group operations and functions, with the approach varying according to the types of risk we face. Oversight and governance occurs at board, executive and function levels to help foster effective group-wide oversight, business planning and resource allocation, intervention and knowledge sharing.

Grades do not Reflect Intelligence Essay

As young adults we have been tested many times over the years, whether it be by a parent, friend or life itself however, the most common of tests we receive are from school. Growing up we were taught to believe that A meant smart and F meant dumb. Time and time again this caused distress in students who were very smart but declared dumb by the education system. Contrary, students who were receiving higher marks are not necessarily the most intelligent. Eventually, people came to the realization that the marks received on tests in fact were not an accurate representation of ones intelligence but merely a showcase of their ability to memorize information. Firstly, the education system does not properly reflect ones intelligence due to common inflation of marks. Secondly, while we are all different, the education system provides us with the same learning and thirdly, grades are the result of effort not intelligence. As the years pass the entry level for most elite university programs rise and are currently well over 90 percent, as a high school student this can be very discouraging. Students are under an immense amount of pressure to do well and this rubs off on the teachers. More often then not teachers are faced with the pressure from students and parents asking or even demanding higher grades, many times they often ascribe any lack of high marks as the teachers fault. Coincidently, as of 2007 more than 60 percent of Ontario high school graduates had an A average, and 10 percent had an A+ average. According to Western University professor James Cà ´tà © that’s up from 40 percent in 1980. (Authority) In todays society many are obsessed with the best, resulting in many parents wanting to send their children to the best schools. This ultimately leads to schools feeling pressure to maintain their supreme standing. Many schools use the success of their past students to enhance their title. For both these reasons listed, inflation occurs. Schools and teachers are raising the marks of their students to their benefit. Of course they are just trying to help however, more often than not they are doing the complete opposite. According to a 2010 report from Brock University, students who entered university with a 90 percent or higher average in high school experienced a dramatic drop of 11.9 percent. Whereas students with high school marks in the 60-79 percent range only dropped 4.4 percent. (Statistic) Grade  inflation does not truthfully assess students learning, resulting in greater problems for their future. With the common act of inflation it is hard to decipher the difference in learning abilities between students. As human beings we are all diverse, not one an identical copy, now if this is the case why does the education system treat us like we are? (Rhetorical question) The education system has made some improvements over the years by dividing students based on their learning but there is much more work to be done. In high school there is a lack of diversity in available courses. There are a multitude of academic courses and very little courses related to apprenticeships and trades. High schools push and push for students to take these academic courses and follow suite to university, when the reality is not everyone is meant to go to university, and that is not a bad thing. However, the truth of this is being concealed by all the grade inflations and false hope given to students. After high school many students will come to the unfortunate realization that just because they did well in high school does not mean they will do the same in university and the high school education system will be to blame for that. If high schools represented college in a more positive way, many students would feel more comfortable and confident in taking the appropriate courses to accommodate to their learning needs. In reality, many students aren’t even aware that they have so many more options outside of these academic courses because the high schools are not making them available. This results in students who learn differently to be put in the same classes and tested the same ways, resulting in one being smarter than the other, when this is in fact not true. Albert Einstein once said, â€Å"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.† (Authority) Therefore, high schools should not test all students equally, but take the time to adhere to their learning abilities and follow suite with appropriate courses and testing. In addition to every student being completely different, it doesn’t help that there are so many of us. There are 105 secondary schools in the Toronto District School Board alone, meaning there are approximately 87, 273 students, and 5, 800 teachers. (Statistic) Now in this whole system of people, one can’t help but wonder, is my A+ the same as you’re A+? (Rhetorical question) If Sally is an intelligent student who doesn’t try hard at all and is managing to pass with  B’s and Julie is at a lower intelligence level but working her butt off to turn her C’s into B’s does this mean t hese grades are equivalent? (Example) Do these grades communicate anything about Sally and Julie’s intelligence, or are they merely a showcase of their efforts? (Rhetorical question) Grades are important yes, but they cannot determine ones intelligence. Grades show teachers how well you are able to retain information; they are an example of who sat down, put the effort in and studied and who didn’t. Yes, it may be easier for an â€Å"intelligent† person to get good grades, but someone of mediocre intelligence can also get good grades with hard work. High schools make test marks out to be everything, when in reality, as stated before; they are not an accurate representation of ones intelligence. Just because John got perfect on a math test and Billy didn’t, does not mean John is smarter, it means they excel in different areas and should be treated accordingly. Time after time many students will find themselves discouraged by their low marks, but that does not have to be the case. With the right amount of effort, and the right guidance everyone has the opportunity to be a genius. It is now time for the education system to put their best foot forward and conjure the effort to make this happen. In conclusion, it is evident that high school grades are no longer an accurate representation of students’ intelligence. Grades are inflated, students who are at completely different ends of the spectrum are getting the same tests and effort now differentiates most students’ grades, how can one possibly believe that this system accurately demonstrates the knowledge of our youth? (Rhetorical question) High schools need to develop a system that can evenly show case everyone’s intelligence. Until that is done, high achieving students will keep being told their brilliant and low achieving students will keep being pushed from, grade to grade. Overall, the question still remains, if academics cannot determine our intellect, what is the true test of intelligence?

What part does deception of one kind or another play in Twelfth Night?

Deception is present in Twelfth Night on a number of levels. To examine the role of deception in Twelfth Night in relation to the plot, we must consider what may have occurred if in fact there was no deception in the piece. Deception sets the whole story in motion, and is pivotal in creating the irony and comedy that abounds in Twelfth Night. It is through deceit and deception that the topsy-turvy web of comedy and confusion that entangles the characters of Twelfth Night is spun. The deception exhibited in the play can be divided into two groups. Firstly, let us consider cases of self-deception. Orsino is a classic sufferer, and continually pines away for his darling Olivia. The self absorbed Orsino believes himself to be in love with the Countess Olivia; however, it would appear that Orsino is more in love with the notion of being in love than anything else. In his opening lines he talks of his love, but it is not until seventeen lines later that he first mentions Olivia. He does not talk to Olivia, and is content to mope around his house in self-involved sorrow while he sends courtiers to woo her on his behalf. Ironically, Olivia is in a similar situation. She uses the unfortunate excuse of her brother's demise to hide herself away from the world, and shows no interest in relating to the other Illyrians. If these two characters were free of their self-deceit, and able to see themselves as they truly are, a tremendous impact would be had on the play. Perhaps Olivia would have returned Orsino's apparent love, after all he is of very noble birth. In this scenario Viola and Sebastian would be cut out of the story entirely, and the original trickery and chaos would not come about. Alternatively, Orsino may have realised the truth about his emotions and stopped his pursuit of Olivia. Cesario would not be sent to her, and Olivia would not fall in love with ‘him'. Furthermore, Sebastian and Olivia's final union would also be impossible, and Cesario would remain bound by ‘his' disguise. Olivia's steward, Malvolio, struggles to see his real self. He is of the opinion that he is in some way superior to others of his social class and deserves to be elevated to the nobility because of his supremacy. He sees himself as surrounded by ‘idle, shallow things', not of his ‘element ‘ and this feeds his unexpected ambition to the point where he is able to be fooled by Sir Toby and Maria's trickery. He is deceived completely, and Sir Toby remarks ‘. . . thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him, he must run mad.' If Malvolio was not so deceived, he would not have this belief of superiority, nor would his holding of this belief be exploited. He would find the letter's message unbelievable and escape the suffering caused by his original trust in its words. His strong ambitions would remain a secret, and the sense of pity and respect we gain for Malvolio through his struggle to be deemed sane would also be non-existent. The comedy of the puritan's trials would also be lost. Sir Andrew's self-deception provides nothing but comedy. The deluded clumsy simpleton thinks he is sophisticated, noble, and a marriage prospect for Olivia. Had Sir Andrew known his chances truthfully, he would have ended his pursuit of Olivia's love. Sir Andrew's absence would result in a loss of a number of humorous debacles; however the major events of the story would be largely unaffected. The other kind of deception in the play is the deception of others. Viola is undoubtedly the most deceptive of the characters, and her deception plays the greatest role in the play. Her original desire to be disguised as a man facilitates the formation of the dreaded love triangle and the resulting complexities that make up the story of Twelfth Night. Viola's decision to conceal her true gender is the basis and foundation for the entire plot. She makes a conscious decision to hide her true self, saying: Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent. When talking with Olivia, Viola even states that she is concealing herself: Viola: †¦you do think you are not what you are. Olivia: If I think so, I think the same of you. Viola: Then think you right: I am not what I am. Was it not for Viola's deceptive disguise, she would not have become a member of Orsino's court. She would not have been sent to Olivia, nor would the mislead Olivia fall in love with Cesario, and later Sebastian. It was Olivia's love for Cesario that saved her from becoming a recluse, and this would have been her fate were it not for Cesario's arrival. Cesario would remain unknown to Orsino, and Orsino and Viola's marriage would not occur. The Duke would almost certainly have continued to wallow in his sorrows as he languished over Olivia. Viola soon becomes anxious at the massive effects of her deception: Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. The major events concerning the main characters would not take place, if Viola had not deceitfully donned the disguise of Cesario. Her deceit has drastic consequences, and huge meaning for all. Even Sir Andrew would have been saved from his embarrassing duel, it Viola was not disguised. Viola's deception provides the extra dimension of dramatic irony that is present throughout the piece. The troubles created by her deception in regard to gender, and mismatched love provide many ironically comedic moments. Olivia falls head over heels in love with none other than a woman in disguise, who is in turn in love with a man, who ironically believes her to also be a man. Each character says or thinks a number of things that are ironically false and often humorous, while the audience has the luxury of seeing past the deception and realising how wrong the characters are about one another. Sir Toby, Fabian and Maria are the conspirators behind Malvolio's downfall, who is the unsuspecting victim of Maria's deceitful letter. Later Feste delivers the cruellest blow when he disguises himself as Sir Topas, the curate. Here Malvolio endures his greatest suffering as his sanity is questioned and his limits tested. Without their scheme to get square with Malvolio, we would not see him suffer or discover his other side as discussed earlier. It is only through Maria and Sir Toby's deception, that Malvolio's respectable, pitiable and admirable qualities are revealed. Sir Toby and Fabian are also behind Sir Andrew's deception. Sir Toby's false friendship and advice leads only to his enjoyment and Sir Andrew's misery. He is manipulated incredibly by Sir Toby, at all times for his personal benefit. Toward the end Sir Toby shows his true feelings for Sir Andrew calling him ‘An asshead, and a coxcomb, and a knave†¦' The resulting comedy of his suit to Olivia and his duel with Cesario, would not occur were it not for Sir Toby's deception. Antonio would also be relieved of his confusion, as he would not step in to save Viola whom he mistook for Sebastian. Near the end, Sebastian realises there is something in the extraordinary situation ‘That is deceivable'. Olivia bade Malvolio ‘return' Orsino's ring to Cesario, in the hope that he would return to her. This was fraudulent trickery on Olivia's behalf in order to see her new love again. Later she apologises for her deceptive ‘cunning ‘ but it is through this deception that the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia and Viola is strengthened. Deception facilitates the formation of Twelfth Night's intricate plot. Shakespeare uses deception on a number of levels. He alludes to the deception in the play right from the beginning, in the title. Historically Twelfth Night is the last night of twelve days of celebration following Christmas, in which social order is upturned and anything and everything goes. The subtitle, ‘Or What you will', fits well with the attitude of Twelfth Night's festivities when people could do whatever and be whoever they liked. Not only is deception essential in the construction of the plot, but it is also present so that Shakespeare can relate to us the outcomes of those who practice deception and those who are deceived. There does not seem to be a concrete system with which a character's rewards or punishment can be determined in respect to their deception. Viola, Sir Toby and Maria are some of the chief deceivers, and yet they are rewarded with wedded bliss. These characters are also able to see past much of the other character's deception. Olivia and Orsino suffer from self-deception, and nonetheless receive the same reward. Malvolio and Sir Andrew see themselves even less truly, and can find no happiness. Feste is arguably the least deceived of the Illyrians, but for this he receives no consolation. Perhaps Shakespeare is trying to show that those involved with deception, are taking a risk. Whether you are being deceived or deceiving others, you can never control, or be sure of your outcome. Shakespeare also uses deception in relation to the concept of fate. Despite the immense deception of the play, Shakespeare ensures the right people still end up together; and although deception affects their journey, their destination remains unchanged. The celebrations of Twelfth Night must come to an end, as does the play, and the happiness of some of its characters. Feste's melancholy final song does nothing to assure us of even the handful of happy characters' continued happiness. Feste's song tells a story of growing up and growing old, recounting a story of the discovery of the unkindness and harshness life. Shakespeare's ending for Malvolio and Feste, who are at opposite ends of the spectrum of deception, serve as reminders to the uncertainty of life. Both the comic plot and the romantic plot are constructed in deception. The confusion, trickery, comedy and chaos of Twelfth Night is present only because of the characters' deception of themselves and one another. Deception makes Twelfth Night what it is. It is the cause of the story, and without it Twelfth Night would be a very straight-forward, linear bore without any twists or turns. It is through deception that Shakespeare shows us the triumph of fate and the uncertainty of life, and the play gives an insight into what awaits those who gamble with deception and false judgement. Deception plays a huge part in Twelfth Night and is essential in making it the topsy-turvy, ironic, chaotic comedy that it is.